The Ultimatest Battle 0.27.2

One of the strangest parts about Steam is how almost any game can become a genre. It's not just shooters, action, and RPGs anymore - there are so many clones and homages that you can slap the 'like' badge on almost any game out there. One of the more interesting game genres out there has been the Worms-like, a series of games that hearken back to the classic game of team-based terrain destruction and incredibly silly, over the top violence. One of the games that typifies the genre is The Ultimatest Battle.

The Ultimatest Battle is advertised as a cross between Team Fortress 2 and Worms. The game lifts the idea of unique classes with individualized weapons from the first source, while taking the destructible terrain and most of the game play elements from the second. While the game itself is very simple, there's a lot of fun to be had playing with the limited physics system and the fully destructible environment. It's a throwback in a way, but one that is welcome.

It's very easy to tell that a lot of love when into the game. While the game does try to push its narrative of being a class-based successor to Worms very hard, the truth is that it is at its best when it just sticks to the Worms formula. Using silly weapons to blow up the terrain and kill your cartoon-y opponents is still a lot of fun, no matter what gimmicks are added. In addition to the genuine fun that can be had with the game, praise needs to be given to this game's free to play model. It really isn't pay to win, so the only time you'll pay money is when you feel like supporting a game - something that all gamers should be able to get behind.

The only truly disappointing aspects of this game are on the technical end. The user interface really isn't good enough for a game that's doing what this game tries to do and game play suffers a bit for that. More pressing are the connection issues, something that's really not forgivable in a multiplayer game. You will eventually lose a match because of disconnects, and there's nothing much to be done about that. You can tell that this game was made lovingly, but it still could have used another few passes before it was published. There's not a lot here that's game-breaking, but there is a lot that detracts from the experience.

Is The Ultimatest Battle worth a download? It's free, so it's not going to hurt. Unfortunately, there are a few other games on Steam that are both in the same genre and free, and it's hard not to point players towards them instead. If the developers can get some of the back-end issues straightened out and give the game another layer of polish, this feels like a game that could be a classic. For now, it's a great example of how a few small problems can absolutely kneecap an otherwise fun game.